Anyone who spends part or all of their day working on their knees knows how painful it is. The constant pressure, moving, sliding, leaning and the like all take part in causing great pain in the knee area. Such people include construction workers, floor refinishers, shelf stockers, roofers, janitorial personnel and the like. One common method of combating this pain is to wear external knee pads over their pants. While undoubtedly this provides cushioning while kneeling, the external knee pads pinch and bind the wearer's leg when standing. This quickly becomes an unsuitable solution for those who are constantly up and down off of their knees. Additionally, the use of external knee pads with this drawback usually requires them to be removed during breaks or while going for lunch thus spending time and effort to relocate them and put them back on after break or lunch is over. Accordingly, there is a need for a means by which people who spend a fair deal of their time on their knees working can be provided the comfort of knee pads without the appearance of wearing kneepads.
Several attempts have been made in the past to develop a combined pair of knee pads and work pants for preventing undesirably bunching of the work pants during operating conditions while protecting user knees from prolonged external forces acting thereon. U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,902 in the name of Crampton discloses a flexible closed-cell knee pad that is held in place between the inside of the knee area of a work pant leg and a rectangular fabric piece that is glued to pant leg. Since the fabric is attached to the pant leg by adhesive it is easy to install the knee pad on any kind of work pant without special tools or skills. Unfortunately, the use of adhesive in this prior art example prevents the knee pad from being repeatedly attached and detached. In addition, the adhesive may not function properly in cold weather conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,398 in the name of Hennessey discloses safety pants with removable knee pads for providing a user with a pair of pants that would incorporate pockets which could house knee protection. The safety pants with removable knee pads include a pair of pants. The pants have a lower torso portion and two legs. Each of the legs has a front knee portion. Each one of a pair of pads has a size designed for covering one of the front knee areas. Each one of the pads provides a cushioning between a horizontal support surface and knees of a user when the user is in a kneeling position. A fastening assembly is for fastening each one of the pair of pads to an associated one of the legs for covering the knees of a user. Unfortunately, this prior art example requires a user to place the pads into pockets that are already attached to the work pants. Such pockets may not be at an optimal position for protecting the knees of a user.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,839 in the name of Vo, et al describes pants which include at least one pant leg and a pocket in the area of the knee. Within each pocket is to be located a cushioning pad. The cushioning pad is to be inserted through an access opening which has a length smaller than the width of the knee pocket which tends to prevent accidental dislodgment of the pad from the knee pocket. A securement device is to be connectable between the pad and the pant leg of the work pant. The knee pocket may be covered by a covering sheet to hopefully prevent the forming of wear holes within the knee area of the work pant. Unfortunately, such a pocket of this prior art example can be become torn during use, thereby being incapable of holding a knee pad in an optimal position for protection of a user knee. The pockets may also not be at an optimal position for protecting the knees of a user
U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,267 in the name of McKewin discloses loops secured to the trousers sleeves of the wearer, on the exterior thereof, through which the knee pad straps are passed for holding the knee pad from sliding down the leg of the wearer. Unfortunately, the use of straps on this prior art example can cut off blood circulation to a user lower leg, thereby being uncomfortable and often painful for the user.
None of the prior art particularly describes a combined pair of knee pads and work pants for preventing undesirably bunching of the work pants during operating conditions while protecting user knees from prolonged external forces acting thereon. Accordingly, there is a need for an assembly which provides such features while overcoming the above-noted shortcomings.